Importing PCM into Audacity

[edtraveller]

My recorder can do pcm or mp3 - I have been recording mp3 as it's what I'm accustomed to - does anyone here using Audacity work with PCM imports - is it straightforward? Any tricks or warnings I should be aware of?

[sarmgk]

PCM is another fancy acronym for WAV file. The recordings will be in WAV format and Audacity will have zero issues with that. In fact you will notice they import a lot faster as they already uncompressed in nature. All my recording are usually done with PCM as nothing is lost and when it comes to compressing to an mp3 I can control how its done and not depend on the recorder. Now the file sizes will be dramatically different much much larger for PCM. I know you do some great work so do some testing and be prepared for how long and much you can record while using PCM. On my tascam it runs around 1GB per hour recording.

[reggind]

> On my tascam it runs around 1GB per hour recording.

Because PCM is not compressed, the file size is almost directly related to the number of channels you are recording and the sampling frequency. The file has a little header on it and that is a consistent size, so there is an itsy bitsy teeny tiny amount more overhead for a short file than for a long one.

I was doing some work just the other day with raw, headerless PCM files and it is neat the way the length of the recording times the sample rate gives you the exact file size, down to the byte.